When All Else Falls
by Burnt Prophet
Summary: in 1008 After Banishment, the North Gryphon Empire attacked Equestria. Now, 9 years later, Twilight sparkle is a member of a rebel group, formed from the shattered remnants of the Equestrian military. Please Read and Review  May be rated T later.


In AB 1008, after decades of total silence, The North Gryphon Empire invaded Equestria with a huge, modern army that crushed the small, sad, relic of the Royal Equestrian Corps utterly. Casualties from the initial assault, both civilian and military were extreme, but due to the combined effort of the Princesses, a magical shield wall was erected around the incursion, halting the rapid advance. But it could not last. In late AB 1009, a united physical and magical attack on the barriers in multiple places shattered the border. The hastily reformed and re-recruited Corps managed to check the advance a few days, allowing mass evacuation to Canterlot, where the Royal Guard, led by Princess Luna were preparing a last-ditch defence, and Princess Celestia was creating arcane barriers, aided by the Royal Canterlot Academy.

However, the modern weapons of the Empire proved more than a match, and the REC was once again slaughtered. The hammer blow fell upon Canterlot far quicker than anyone had expected. The Guard and Princesses fought their best but, not fully prepared, were soon struggling to hold the city. After a week of the besiegement, the wall was breached and the gryphon ground forces marched in. The fighting in the streets was fierce, and the ranged advantage of the gryphons' gunfire was almost useless. Their armoured support was not risked after the first wave, when single suicidal pegasi with grenades or landmines started blasting holes in the formations. No defined perimeter was established, and the territory captured wavered back and forth. Princess Celestia knew by now they didn't stand a chance of actually winning the battle now, and ordered a mass evacuation through the hidden tunnels under Canterlot. After a few more weeks, not long after the evacuation was complete, the aerial shield began to falter, and the princess ordered a retreat to Canterlot Castle, the very stones of which were enchanted with powerful defences. From this powerful stronghold the ponies held out for a whole month against the Gryphon troops, but in the end, the Princesses knew they could not win.

Records from here on are shaky, and are mostly based on documents and the dying words of wounded soldiers.

Celestia devised a plan, one that would enable them to continue fighting the war, in a sense, even once it was won. She, Princess Luna, and those of the Royal Academy who had not evacuated or fallen began work on a spell that would transport the remaining Guard and every pony in the Castle to some hidden location in Equestria, and would transfer the power in Canterlot Castle to a series of ancient ruins and strong-points. It is rumoured that this might have been Blackmarsh ruins or the Everfree castle.

Early 1010, the Gryphon attackers saw a blindingly bright light blaze from every window, arrow slit and door in the castle, followed by a bang so deafening that many gryphons were made permanently deaf. When they approached the castle, no return fire came. When they attempted to fly up, they found that the magic barriers were gone. The ponies were gone. Everything looked like the ponies had just vanished. Bowls of slowly-cooling soup were found in the mess hall, there were smashed plates on the floor in the kitchens, in fact, it was only once they reached the armoury that any sign that the ponies hadn't simply been vaporised emerged. That sign was the fact that it was stripped clean. Every sword, every rifle, every helmet was gone. The next surprise was that when the infirmary was searched and it was discovered that although there were vanished ponies, in the operation theatre, an operation was going on. In one ward, a mortally wounded pony was being tended to by a nurse. The gryphon troops waited for further orders, and were told to take the ponies whose patients had died captive, and to wait until medical activity had ceased before taking the rest.

When the doctors were questioned, they said that yes, they had seen the bright flash, but had not heard any noise. Further questioning proved futile; none of the medical staff knew anything. One dying patient however, spat at them and said, with his dying words, that they would never win, that if they could not be beaten by an army, then by guerrilla warfare they would fall. As of yet, no-one is sure where exactly the missing guard went, as no sign of them, or the Princesses has yet been discovered.

Twilight Sparkle sighed and put down the history book. She did not need a reminder of the fall of Equestria. She saw that enough on a day to day basis, and, in any case it was now incorrect. The year was now 1017, and the princesses had exposed the existence of the organisation formed of the Royal Guard and Equestrian academy, with the flamboyant assassination two years ago of the General who had led the invasion at a staff meeting of the Gryphon Empire military in what had used to be Canterlot castle. Since then, the gryphons had been constantly searching for them, not knowing that there was no central base. The various elements kept in touch with each other via magical communications, and the closest thing to a central HQ they had was the hidden network of bunkers in the Snowfall Caverns, where princess Celestia operated from. Princess Luna was at a ruined fortress, abandoned since the last Dragon War, three thousand years ago. No-one seems to remember its name, and indeed, only students of the princesses, who were generally shown there so that they could study the defences woven into its very structure. As a matter of fact, it was not even visible at ground level much less at gryphon cruising height, the main reason it was used. Twilight Sparkle's cell operated not out of the Everfree Castle ruins, as those were searched frequently, but from a camp strung between the trees in the deepest, densest part of the Everfree, where the Gryphons hated to go, due to the long hanging vines, making it the perfect location.

But Twilight was not in the Everfree camp at the moment. She was with another pony, an ex-Royal Guard; in a boarded-up house in the town of Ponyville, opposite the main square, where, not coincidently, a speech that was being held to the gryphon troops that were camped outside of Ponyville was due to take place in a few minutes. Her rifle was leaning against a crate full of smoke grenades, a flash guard fitted and loaded with stolen armour-piercing rounds. She could hear the gryphons talking softly outside. She motioned to the ex-Guard, whose name was Greenmane, and they took up their places at separate windows, which had been boarded up some time ago, readied their rifles, and waited.

**Hi there everypony! This is my first ever fanfic, and I'm really curious to know how good my writing is. Also, please let me know if you approve or disapprove of the premise by reviewing. I'm always looking for people who will tell me whether I'm doing something right or wrong.**

**-Burnt Prophet **


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